Cypress Island and fledgling saw-whet owl

Sunrise from our campsite

We went for an overnight paddle last weekend in the San Juans. Cypress Island is actually quite close to Fildago Island (where Anacortes is located). But kayaking in the San Juans not a walk in the park. The currents are big and strong and the direction seems to be difficult to predict. We decided to learn slowly about kayaking in these waters. So we took a 5-minute ferry over to Guemes Island, drove to the north end, and paddled to Cypress from there. This meant we only had one big crossing instead of two. And wow - I was glad! The waves were big and confused in the channel we crossed, plus it was windy. Confused seas don't really let you point your kayak into the waves very easily. So sometimes I had my kayak where I wanted it and other times I didn't. We took some water over the bow - but the kayaks handled it wonderfully. I think both of us feel a lot more confident in the kayaks ability to do their job in bigger waters.

Julie and Cypress Head

Once we got across to Cypress Island we set up our tent in the most lovely campsite ever. We were at the top of a small cliff looking straight down into a kelp forest and across Bellingham Channel to Mt.Baker and Guemes Island. We could watch the gnarly currents as the tides changed and marvel at the strength of the tides! It was a great predictor of slack tide, so we could gauge when to leave the next day (in order to have the least amount of current to fight when paddling). After eating our lunch and snoozing in the sun, we decided to go for a hike. Cypress Island is loaded with hiking trails - what a cool island! And this is when the coolest part of our entire weekend occurred. Only about five minutes into the hike up Jay stopped short on the trail and whispered "owl" to me! Holy s**t! Only about 10-15 ft. away from us on a branch right over the trail was a tiny little owl about the size of a hand. The cute factor was way way off the scale. This little owl turned out to be a fledgling northern saw-whet owl. It had a fluffy orange belly (think of a color similar to a robin), a black head, and white eyebrows and mustache. It watched us and we watched it back, for about 10-15 minutes. It must have gotten bored because it took a dump and flew away. I spooked it out of a tree a few minutes later when we started walking again. I didn't even see it, tiny little thing.

Hello! I'm a very fluffy and cute fledgling northern saw-whet owl. I'll watch you if you watch me.

Our photos of the owl are crappy and out of focus, I miss my good camera. But a new SLR is on the way. I have finally graduated to big camera land. But I'll always love my Fujifilm camera that some jerk is using now. I couldn't help but think of the camera's great zoom when we were watching this tiny owl. What a treat!

Cone Islands

Jay finds some anemones at low tide (yes, all the green stuff is actually a big clone of anemones)

The next day we had a windy paddle back across the channel again, but this time the waves were not confused, so it made the conditions more predictable and a lot more fun (rather than scary). We stopped at one of the Cone Islands and watched harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. On the other side of the island were sheer cliffs with pigeon guillemots (neat birds) nesting above. The tide was low and we got a great view of a huge patch of anemones that were exposed! This made Jay happy!

Our big plans for this weekend include a Herbie Hancock concert and a hike around Mt.Baker. Can't wait. Washington sure is like living in a giant playground. If only family and friends were out here with us.... =)